NCJ Number
216813
Date Published
2002
Length
221 pages
Annotation
This text presents an analysis of crime from a routine activities perspective.
Abstract
The routine activities approach defines crime as “a tangible set of phenomenon that can be studied systematically.” The text focuses on criminal acts rather than the offenders themselves and takes the view that crime is a routine activity that occurs within the routine legal activities of everyday life. Chapter 1 presents and corrects 10 fallacies about crime, such as the incorrect beliefs that young people are innocent and that criminals must be crafty and tough. This chapter points out that crime is less dramatic than the media leads the public to believe and that most exaggerations of offenders’ evil nature are just that--exaggerations. Chapter 2 examines the elements of criminal acts, using property and violent crimes as examples, while chapter 3 considers how offenders make decisions. Chapter 4 describes how changes in everyday life, such as changes in transportation technology, drive the changes communities witness in crime rates. Chapter 5 looks specifically at how offenders sell their stolen goods and who buys them. Chapter 6 examines how metropolitan growth contributes to adolescent involvement in crime and delinquency while chapter 7 discusses white-collar crime, focusing on how it is easily explained by the routine activities perspective. Chapter 8 considers the way criminal acts are intertwined, with one criminal act often leading to another in a vicious spiral of crime. Chapters 9 and 10 describe environmental and situational crime prevention strategies, both of which focus on how the environmental context either inhibits or invites criminal acts. Chapter 11 focuses on how a “crime science” is possible by focusing closely on criminal events. A crime science would focus on how, when, and where offenders act, what their motives are, the noncriminal circumstances that can lead to criminal acts, and the step-by-step sequences that crime follows in everyday life. Exhibits, appendix, references, index